It took over 11 gruelling hours for Ron Ellis to be named the inaugural Mighty Quail Trail champion.
The Salmon Arm man finished the 100 kilometre ultra-trail race on Saturday evening in Penticton with a time of 11:30:45.
“It was a huge success and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback from the participants about the course, saying it is very tough, the scenery, the city of Penticton and especially our wonderful volunteers,” said race co-organizer Stacey Cleveland. “The overall winner was Ron Ellis of Salmon Arm in an unbelievably fast time of 11 hours and 30 minutes — over 90 minutes faster than second place.”
Andy Spurling of Victoria finished in second with a time of 13:01:22 and following in third place was Kelowna’s Erik Benedikt at 13:04:06. The top female finisher (11th overall) was Jessie Thomson-Gladish from Kamloops with a time of 14:36:33.
Only two racers from Penticton managed to tackle the trails. Marie Boucher and Marc Bremner came across the finish line together at 16:41:58.
Runners from as Seattle, Saskatoon, Calgary and across B.C. competed.